Obtaining current weather data at various locations, including destination and en route airports, is crucial for the operation of all types of aircraft. Early in the advent of aviation during the 1930's, weather data was gathered by observers at designated locations, usually airports. A typical observation included temperature, barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, visibility, cloud conditions, and information about currently occurring weather conditions such as rain or fog. The observation data was then sent down a common teletype circuit to Flight Service Stations for any pilots interested in conditions. With few modifications, this system continued largely unchanged until 1961 when an agreement was reached between the then new Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS) to allow Flight Service Station (FSS) briefers to interpret weather forecasts and charts for pilot briefings.
Hourly observations and occasional special observations, collectively called sequence reports, were transmitted using teletype communications until the mid 1970's. At that time, a new automated system was implemented to allow observations to be forwarded to a central location from which the observation could be obtained by any FSS. The mid 1970's also saw the beginning of a phase-out of local FSS stations in favor of “super FSS” stations with higher levels of automation. Consolidation concluded in the late 1990's, however observations were still largely hourly in frequency and flowed through a central clearing point. By the 1990's, the observation name was changed from sequence report to METAR and incorporated ICAO international reporting standards. With the consolidation of FSS stations, pilots were unable to visit their local FSS and instead had to rely on telephone briefings from one of the “super FSS” stations. The FAA also added Direct Access User Terminal (DUAT) online access for pilots only. DUAT provides exactly the same information available from FSS in the same time frame, but alleviates the need for a telephone call to FSS.
During the early 1980's, human weather observers were gradually replaced with automated weather reporting systems. Such a system, called Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS) is essentially a computer coupled with a bank of sensors for making and reporting observations. The observations are played continually via computer-generated voice over an assigned radio frequency. AWOS systems also have telephone lines that may be called to hear the computer generated voice observation. More recently systems known as Automated Surface Observation Systems (ASOS) have been deployed. The primary difference between a typical AWOS and an ASOS lies in the ASOS's enhanced observation capabilities. Otherwise, both the AWOS and ASOS report current observations via voice on a telephone line or over an assigned radio frequency. Additionally, larger airports with control towers often play recorded voice tape loops containing local airport notices and weather information over an assigned radio frequency. The weather information is still based on the most recent hourly observation. The tape loop system is known as Automated Terminal Information System (ATIS), and increasingly, is accessible through a telephone line. Within approximately the last ten years the weather portion of the message, previously recorded by a person, is being replaced by computer generated AWOS weather tagged to the end of the recording. Collectively, we will refer to all automated observation systems (AWOS, ASOS, and ATIS) as “AWOS” systems.
Starting in the 1980's, the FAA deployed about 600 AWOS stations nationwide. The federally deployed AWOS stations all have telephone lines and all report data in digital form to the FAA central location. However, since aviation weather data has an extreme bearing on aviation safety, many non-federal entities began to deploy AWOS systems on their own. Some of these report digital data, but many do not, leaving the radio broadcast and telephone line as the only way to obtain the observation. Today there are over 1,700 AWOS system nationally with more being added continually. A significant number of AWOS systems report their observations either through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOM) or FAA central computer systems for subsequent dissemination to interested parties; however, an observation can still be 20 minutes to an hour old by the time the end-user obtains it. Weather phenomenon like thunderstorms can build from non-existent to significant risk in as little as ten minutes, hence there is a need for the pilot to obtain real time weather easily, for any location. Although the World Wide Web has seen the growth of a number of weather oriented sites, including those that cater specifically to aviation weather data, all draw from the same central location whose observations, as noted above, can be up to an hour old. Furthermore, internet access has not penetrated significantly enough to be accessible from more than a very small percentage of airports. In contrast, telephony has penetrated to virtually ever corner of the country, especially when cellular telephones are considered. This is especially true of airports not associated with larger metropolitan areas where a current observation can be difficult to obtain. The embodiment of the present invention solves the currency problem for weather data in a way that only requires traditional telephone access.
In addition to immediate weather conditions, pilots often need predictive weather information such as Terminal Area Forecasts and Winds Aloft forecasts. These are largely prepared by the FAA and the NWS on a regular basis for distribution to pilots. The distribution channel was the teletype network described earlier. Flight Service Stations traditionally distribute these products by voice over the phone by having a trained briefer read and possibly interpret the reports. In more recent times, many of forecast products are available as text over the web. Therefore, unlike AWOS data, there are sources for forecast and other products, however there is no one source for all the products. As described earlier, the voiced-based cell phone has become the predominant terminal carried by pilots, therefore the embodiment of the present invention similarly delivers these products as voiced text. The means for obtaining the data is different since the products come from Internet locations, NWS and FAA repositories, and potentially other sources, but the delivery means, namely via voice and telephone, is the same. Instead of connecting with an outlet that provides current conditions in a voiced format, the system must retrieve textual data and turn it into voiced data locally so that it can be played to the user. For these products, parsing and interpretation is often required. For example, the Terminal Area Forecast is produced by the National Weather Service (NWS) in a coded format that not even all pilots can interpret. A system wishing to voice such information must do sophisticated parsing and turn the coded information into useful, plain English voiced data. For these products, parsing and interpretation is often required. For example, the Terminal Area Forecast is produced by the National Weather Service (NWS) in a coded format that not even all pilots can interpret. A system wishing to voice such information must do sophisticated parsing and turn the coded information into useful, plain English voiced data.
In addition to weather itself, certain kinds of meta-data are useful for the pilot. For example, given a certain location, it is useful to know the other nearby locations that also report weather, or, given a route, it is useful to know several weather reporting stations along the line of flight. This kind of data requires consulting a database and producing carefully crafted responses that are clear and concise.